The subject matter disclosed herein relates to elevator systems. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to speed governors for elevator systems.
Typical elevator systems include a governor device to control a speed of an elevator car in a hoistway. The governor device may be connected to an elevator safety to slow and/or stop the movement of the elevator car in the case of an overspeed condition. In some systems, the governor device is mounted at, for example, the machine level of the elevator system or in a hoistway pit, while in other elevator systems the governor device is located at the elevator car itself, and is called a car-mounted governor.
In elevator systems with car-mounted governors, the governor cable is suspended from a fixed point at the top of the hoistway, and passes through the governor device at the elevator car. The governor cable is attached to a tension weight, located in the pit at the bottom of the hoistway, to maintain tension on the governor cable. With the governor device and/or tension weight located in the hoistway, the typical governor device requires that periodic inspection, maintenance and/or repair be performed by a technician entering the hoistway. Regulatory bodies have specified increases in safety volume and clearance for technicians entering the hoistway resulting in a larger overall volume of such elevator systems, while elevator system customers desire that the elevator system occupy a smaller overall volume.